Understanding the synergy of environmental and quality management systems

In this era of declining business expenditure there is an obvious reduction in the willingness of businesses to take on new ventures, such as the implementation of ISO management systems. What is plain for all to see is a renewed motivation to embrace policies and strategies that have customer appeal. For us, new business has arrived from the requirement for organisations to be attentive to environmental issues, and ISO14001 has become a focus of discussion.

From a study of both of these standards there is quite bit that is the same in the documented requirements, and integrated management systems have become the end result of this similarity. It would follow that an organisation can legitimately claim to be operating an environmentally friendly (and ISO14K compliant) business without having formally adopted the 14K standard through third party assessment and registration.

The ISO9001 document allows for the organisation to take cognisance of requirements not arising from the customer, or statutory legislation, but adopted through choice by the organisation. So apart from the registration, and the public recognition(?) that is expected to follow, the ISO14K standard has little to offer an organisation with a sensibly implemented ISO9001 management system and a determination to develop it sensibly. Herein lies the real problem with the ISO standards as generally implemented and publicly recognised.

With ISO9001 having the potential to combine environmental with quality issues in its scope, the 14K standard is of little value - as a standard. But it isn't being used as a standard for management purposes, but for registration and publicity. Arguably the only real beneficiaries of ISO14001 are the registrars. But is this situation peculiar to the environmental standard? I think not.

The ISO9001 standard has as its title - Quality management systems. Followers of the stated rules are told to believe the end result to be constantly improving quality. Quality of what? Certainly not the product, there is no claim for that to happen. Any improvement that happens is an improvement to the system. What constitutes an actual improvement seems not to have been seriously considered by either the ISO standards authority, the registrars, or those who pay for the assessment and registration process.

The actual problem stems from the nomenclature and the consequential expectation of all of the stakeholders. Quality management isn't just about following systems, but understanding and managing work objectives and procedures. ISO9001 is not about quality management, it may be quality control, even quality assurance, but it is not quality management.

Ed. Bones is a chartered quality professional, an IRCA registered Lead Auditor, and is a senior partner with Meon Consulting Group, providing expert audit and consultant services for ISO9001 & ISO14001 management systems. The company web site provides detailed information, and includes the offer of FREE Advice.

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